Heart's on Fire

Me

November 16, 2017

Last post was on 7/16/17. Jeez. I really should start posting regularly again, but I generally don’t have much to say. I’m not even posting on Facebook much these days, and I’ve never been big on Twitter. But, I do have a few things worth discussing now.

First, I posted last entry discussed my heart problem and corresponding weight loss. I said I’d lost about 40 pounds, but I’m afraid that wasn’t correct. I wasn’t lying; my scale was. Turns out it wasn’t accurate, though it took me another month or so and being weighed at a dr’s office to figure that out. I’ve replaced it - twice - and I’m confident in saying that I am NOW down about 45 pounds. That’s only 5 less than where I thought I was on 7/16/17, but I’m pretty sure it’s right. Dr’s office weigh ins agree.

Second, I had a cardiac ablation at the University of Wisconsin Hospital yesterday. Here's a brief description of the procedure from The Mayo Clinic's website:

It was relatively simple (used catheters, wasn’t the open heart variety) and successful. I went in around 6:40a and was on my way home at 3:30p. The doc was pleased with the results and believes it should resolve the fast, irregular heartbeat episodes that have plagued me since April. He found something he didn’t expect, but it was easily treated. He believes it’s been there all my life, and oddly enough, my weight probably had little or nothing to do with it. Granted, being so heavy doesn’t help anything, but I’m in the process of changing that. My heart still isn’t as strong as it should be, and while that may improve, I will probably have to be on some medication for the rest of my life and there is some chance I’ll need a pacemaker down the road. But, all things considered, my health could be much worse.

Third, I’m job hunting. I’d like to find something more inline with my degree, and anything involving a call center is an absolute last resort. Even then, I’m not convinced I’d do it. Those jobs always, without fail, made me miserable.

Fourth, I mentioned writing music for my wife in my last entry. That stalled out, but I haven’t given up. I expect to get back to it next week, or perhaps sooner.

Finally, I heard the following attributed to Joe Rogan:

“Our country has a mental health problem masquerading as a gun problem.”

I believe there’s a lot of truth in that statement, but I still wonder how many of these mass shooters are either on or coming off of mind altering medications prescribed by a physician. It’s not something the mainstream media addresses, and alternate sources of news aren’t always reliable. I’ve toyed with the idea of digging into this myself, but it would be time consuming with very little potential reward.